The Chamber of Secrets (Book 2) (Hermione x Male Reader)

Ch. 5: The Secret

Days passed, and we all talked, hung out, visited different places, and just enjoyed the time spent there. The day before we had to go back to London, Hermione and I were in the treehouse talking and playing random card games, some of them made up. We were talking about random things and how fun the trip had been so far while we played. Hermione then looked at her bracelet to see it was glowing green. She looked at me.

"What is it?" Hermione asked.

"Sorry, I've been thinking about what happened when I was younger a lot more than usual recently, that's all. Being in this treehouse is probably the main reason for that. I haven't spent this much time in it since then," I said.

I then took a deep breath.

"If I tell you what happened, you have to promise me that you'll never tell anyone else what I tell you."

"Of course, Y/N. I promise," she said, listening intently now.

I sat there for a few moments to decide if I really wanted to talk about it. Eventually, I just sighed and began the story.

"When I was about six years old, me and my best friend at the time, Marcus, were walking around Columbus. He was telling me about something I didn't really understand. He told me his family were part of a gang. All I knew about gangs was from what I read in The Outsiders, not what an actual gang was. He took me to meet them, his dad and his brother. They were both a part of that gang, and after a while of talking and hanging out at his house, they realized I was very intelligent for my age. I started talking to them more and more and they treated me like family and started showing me more people who were part of that gang. Eventually, one of them, Marcus's brother, came up with the idea that I could help them, and they'd pay me for it," I said. "I stupidly accepted, and from that day forward, I would be the person to hide evidence for them, and I would also help them out in gang fights, which is probably why my boxing lessons are going well. Only certain ones though. I was a kid, fighting grown adults and teenagers."

Hermione listened intently and seemed shocked at this.

"I'm so sorry, Y/N. That must've been awful. I couldn't imagine," Hermione said.

"Actually, I enjoyed it. And I didn't mind to hide the evidence for them. They also paid me pretty well. At first, I would just find places I thought no one would look to hide them and then burn the stuff later, but there were some close calls. Eventually, I came here to the treehouse, where I built the second secret compartment and did my work here. Some things I would wipe all the fingerprints from and bury. Some things, I would break down into the smallest pieces possible and burn. I hid and destroyed many things. Money, drugs, guns, knives. Not at all thinking about what would happen if I made one mistake, just focused on the tasks. I hung out with them more and more, kept helping them, got into more fights, hid more evidence, and they paid me. When I was nine though, I made a huge mistake. They gave me a pistol to get rid of. It was a Beretta, and it was gold plated. Instead of destroying it, I cleaned the fingerprints and tucked it in my pants one day we were about to have a gang fight. One of the people from the other gang went against the rules of the fight and brought a knife. He got Marcus to the ground and tried to stab him, so I pulled out the gun. I aimed it at the guy. The guy didn't stop and Marcus yelled for help and told me to shoot him."

My head dropped down as I recalled the situation that still traumatized me to this day.

"And I... I..." I said, but I couldn't get the words out as I started to cry, worse than last time.

Hermione quickly put her arms around me and hugged me tightly, which I quickly returned, sinking into the hug as the tears streamed down my face. We stayed like that for a while, until eventually, I pulled away slightly, and the tears stopped.

"I did it..." I said. "I killed him. Everyone else ran. Marcus's family and some of the others got rid of the body and I destroyed the gun. I didn't talk to Marcus after that. Or anyone, really. They understood, not trying to convince me to help them anymore. But some of the others thought differently, which caused in-fighting in the gang. Some of them thought I should continue to help because, in their minds, once a part of the gang, always a part of it. But the majority of them took my side, explaining I was never a part of the gang, just doing them favors. I said nothing and stayed out of it. One day, the ones that thought I should have to continue helping them tried to jump me. Marcus and I fought them all off, but Marcus..."

The tears started again. Another tight hug from Hermione. It took a lot longer to get a grip this time.

"He didn't make it. We managed to fight them off, but Marcus died in my arms that day. He saved my life, but at the cost of his own," I said, taking a deep breath again through tears. "They were all arrested, serving life in prison. The gang turned their backs on them because of what they did. Eventually, it was all over, and I continued to keep to myself. No one knows about this besides the people who were there that day. Except for my parents. One night, they found me crying in my room and I told them what happened. They were shocked. Well, that's an understatement, but they decided to just come to the agreement that we just never talk about it and that I try to put it behind me. And about that book my mom wrote, she never told me this, but I think it's about how I saved Marcus's life, and in turn, he protected me and let me leave, standing up to members of the gang he was a part of, so I could move on. There was a part of the book I never told you about. The end, where the eagle had gotten bitten by one of the snakes."

Hermione looked at me and I saw a mixture of emotions on her face. I grabbed the eagle necklace and looked at it.

"So, this is a representation of Marcus. That's why she gave me the necklace. So I could feel like Marcus was still with me," I said, wiping the tears from my eyes. "So, now you know."

Hermione was crying as well.

"Y/N, I'm so sorry. I never should've asked what happened. You've tried so hard not to think about it, and I stupidly asked you to tell me," she said.

This time, I hugged her.

"Hermione, it's alright. You never could've known how bad it actually was. And I chose to tell you. Yes, it was terrible, and I'm probably gonna be traumatized my whole life, but you're the one that's helped me to not let it destroy me. There's no way I wasn't going to tell you when you're the one that's helping me move past it. Yeah, I'm very good at hiding the fact that I went through something like that, but that doesn't mean it didn't hurt. It did. Every single day. Until I met you, 'Mione."

She hugged me tighter at those words, both of us sinking into each other's arms. Then, Hermione looked at me.

"So, the second day at Hogwarts, that morning when you told me you were bullied, too..." she said.

"A cover-up story for the real reason why I stopped talking to people," I said. "I'm sorry, Hermione."

"Don't take that the wrong way, I'm not mad. It's just that now that I know the true story, it's made me realize how much you truly care. Instead of saying how much worse you've had it than me, you just tried to relate enough to get your point across. You put your own pain aside to help me. Thank you, Y/N," she said.

"No, thank you, 'Mione," I said. "I haven't been able to tell anyone about this, but you've been there for me every day and have done so much for me, I know I can trust you. There's not a lot of people these days I can say that about."

Then, silence. The good kind of silence. We sat there in each other's arms for a while. Eventually, it was broken by my father's voice.

"Dinner's ready," he called from the back yard.

"Okay, be there in a minute," I called back.

Hermione and I stood, but our eyes were still locked. She then kissed my cheek, which caused my face to turn slightly red, before she made her way to the house. I followed behind.

This was going to be our last meal before going back to London, so we all ate slowly, just enjoying the time we had before we had to leave.